Pedro Caro y Sureda de la Romana

General Caro y Sureda, marqués de La Romana

Pedro Caro y Sureda-Valero y Maza de Lizana, 3rd marqués de La Romana (born October 2, 1761 in Palma de Mallorca , † January 23, 1811 in Cartaxo ) was a Spanish general during the Napoleonic War in Spain .

Life

Early career

He was born in Palma de Mallorca in 1761 into a noble family from the Balearic Islands . When he was ten years old, he and his brother José attended the Trinity School in Lyon . When the father died prematurely, King Carlos III granted . the brothers on July 7, 1775 entry into the royal navy. He studied Hebrew and mathematics at the University of Salamanca and continued his education in humanities at the Real Seminario de Nobles in Madrid . After completing his studies, he was sent to the Navy in Cartagena in 1778. In Cartagena he was promoted to Alferez de Fragata and Adjutant to General Ventura Moreno . When Spain and Great Britain went to war in 1779, the king ordered the island of Menorca to be retaken. Pedro was sent to the blockade and siege of Gibraltar . A fleet of 73 transport ships left on July 23, 1781 with 8000 soldiers on board were sent to the island of Menorca . The land forces were under the command of Brigadier Ventura Moreno, and so young Pedro was also involved in the company. On February 5, 1782, the castle of San Felipe surrendered to the troops of the Marquis of Casa-Cagigal and the Marquis of Peñafiel , a bastion in which the British Military Governor George Murray had taken refuge.

When the war ended, Pedro retired to Valencia in 1783 , where he assembled a library that became one of the largest in Spain. During this time he had also resumed his foreign language studies. After receiving permission from the king, he traveled to Vienna and Berlin for diplomatic purposes and later to Moscow. After his return he was also sent to America, but soon returned to Spain. In 1790 he was promoted to frigate captain on the orders of Rear Admiral Gravina . His tasks consisted mainly in the organization and logistics of the fleet. After the outbreak of war against the French convention, he changed from the navy to the army, received the rank of colonel and was appointed commander of a hunter corps through his uncle, General Ventura Caro. Pedro Caro ended the war as lieutenant general and retired in 1795 when the peace was signed. This time he settled with his friend, the Count of Lumiarez (later called Prince Pio) in Alicante , where he devoted himself to the study of foreign languages ​​again.

In 1802 he returned to active military service and was appointed Captain General of Catalonia . In 1805 he was assigned to the highest council of war as general director of engineering. On February 5, 1807, King Carlos IV made a treaty with Napoleon in which Spain undertook to support France with 14,000 men. 6000 men were already in Etruria as a crew, General La Romana was appointed as the new commander and during this time showed himself to be loyal to Prime Minister Godoy . In contrast, General Gonzalo O'Farrill's party , the previous commander of the Etrurian units, tended towards the pro-French party. La Romana maintained its loyal stance, but its deputy, General Juan Kindelán, was also pro-French. The unreliable "Division del Norte" (Division of the North) was assigned in August 1807 under the command of Marshal Bernadotte and charged with the occupation of northern Germany. During the entire winter of 1807-08, the troops spent in garrisons around Hamburg and Lübeck . In February 1808, Great Britain declared war on Denmark and Spanish forces were dispatched to secure the Danish ports. The Spanish division did not initially rebel either when Carlos IV was overthrown by his son Fernando .

Spain's uprising

When the popular uprising against the French broke out on May 2, 1808, the division was isolated from any news and a mutiny was expected. On June 11, 1808, some Spanish officers arrived in London to ask for British help so the division could return to Spain. A British agent named Robertson (an Irish Catholic priest) was dispatched to contact La Romana. In addition, on June 24, three Spanish officers came to La Romana headquarters and urged action. The British government sent a fleet to embark the Spaniards. On July 22, 1808 Marshal Bernadotte tried to oblige the La Romana troops to take an oath of allegiance to King Joseph Bonaparte , who had been installed as King of Spain for Napoleon. At that time his troops were widely dispersed between Jutland , Funen and Zealand . He ordered his units to concentrate on the Danish island of Nyborg and prepared to flee. La Romana tried to buy more time by pretending to take the oath and was able to gather around 9,000 men for embarkation. The British fleet appeared on August 27, 1808, but more than 5,000 soldiers were still captured. The convoy was only able to reach Santander on October 10 , the infantry was immediately forwarded to Blake's army, while the cavalry had to be re-equipped. La Romana arrived in La Coruña on October 19 , traveled to Santander, where he arrived on November 10 and was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Western Army on the same day. His troops were defeated in the Battle of Espinosa de los Monteros (November 10th) and decimated in the following retreat to 16,000 soldiers who arrived in León on November 26th. With this army, La Romana was only able to support the retreat of the British under Sir John Mooree from Salamanca to Galicia to a limited extent .

Moore called for closer cooperation between the Spanish troops and their own. The Spanish troops only managed to stop the French advance temporarily through a few successful rearguard actions. South-east of León, at the Battle of Mansilla (December 30, 1808), a French corps under Nicolas Soult caught up with him . Soult's cavalry under General Franceschi-Delonne overran the rearguard led by Spanish General Martinengo. On December 26th, Moore's rearguard split from La Romana's forces in Benavente and escaped to La Coruña . La Romana had to withdraw to the west without British support and took the most difficult route through Galicia. Finally he reached Valdeorras (wine-growing region) with his troops on January 9, 1809 . In the first months of 1809 the people of Galicia rebelled against the French, and with their help the scattered Spaniards succeeded several times in defeating the French troops (for example at Vigo and Santiago de Compostela ). The forces of La Romana played an important role in these battles. In support of the patriots, La Romana took Villafranca del Bierzo and managed to cut off the French supply lines from Galicia to León .

Last commands

In May 1809, La Romana submitted to the orders of the Junta of Asturias , which soon wanted to submit to the Central Junta. In the same month the French launched a counter-offensive to recapture the territory that had been lost in Galicia. The French were unable to break the resistance of the national guerrillas . La Romana's army recovered in Villafranca del Bierzo. Soult planned to reopen the supply line to Galicia, but was forced to retreat to Leon at Puente Sanpayo (June 6), despite being reinforced by Mortier. La Romana did not pursue the French and concentrated its troops (about 10,000 strong) near Verin, on the border between Portugal and Spain. When the French discovered that the British did not land in the Duero Valley, but on the Tagus , three corps under Soult advanced immediately, took Astorga and occupied all of Asturias. On August 24, 1809, La Romana gave up command of his army when he was appointed a member of the Executive Commission of the Central Junta .

On October 19, 1809, La Romana was in Seville to take part in the reunification of the central junta. There he defended the British view that all Spanish, British and Portuguese units should be grouped under a single leader (Wellington). The junta turned down this proposal, but haired on his good relations with the British. As a member of the junta and later as a supporter of the new reign, La Romana was active in Seville and Cádiz until the summer of 1810. In September 1810 he was sent to Galicia to take over the Spanish troops in Asturias , which were supposed to divert attention from the new concentrations in Andalusia in northern Spain . When Marshal Massena began his invasion of Portugal in October 1810, La Romana reacted quickly and sought to unite its 8,000 men with Wellington in northern Portugal, but again lacked good equipment and training. The men from La Romana followed the British troops to Torres Vedras , but there was no fighting. After retreating, La Romana convinced Wellington to relieve the besieged fortress of Badajoz in order to prevent a new invasion of Portugal. Wellington agreed and sent General Hill and the La Romana forces to Elvas . This Portuguese city would have been the starting point for the planned relief of Badajoz. But before the relief began, La Romana died of dyspnoea on January 23, 1811 in Cartaxo, Portugal .

literature

• David G. Chandler: The Campaigns of Napoleon , Simon & Schuster 1995, ISBN 0-02-523660-1
• Longford, Elizabeth. Wellington - The Years of the Sword , Harper and Row Publishers, New York 1969
• Magnus Mörner: El marqués de La Romana y el mariscal La epopeya singular de la división del norte en Dinamarca (1808). Centro de Estudios Constitucionales. Madrid, 2004. ISBN 84-259-1267-9 .

Web links

• Biography on el.tesorodeoviedo (Spanish)